A fresh face

Posted on 03 Nov 2023 @ 5:52pm by Captain Ricardo (Rico) Montoya & Lieutenant Commander Aiden MacMahon

1,969 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: M-18 The Past is Future
Location: DS3 and USS Phoenix

Deep Space 3

Rico was still fuming from having heard of Deep Space 5's destruction. His ship had been built there and it was still their home port. It was going to take some time before an accurate casualty list would be available so all he could do was wait and hope. Even the normally active promenade was noticeably quieter. Probably due to their proximity to Breen and their previous affiliation with the Cardassians.

Even walking the station massive arboretum with it's trails, trees, and small lake and stream did little to better his mood. Their was nothing he could do and that was what was more frustrating than anything. Stopping he leaned on a rail over the stream as he watched a father and son fishing along the bank. The young boy shouted excitedly as his line went taught and he began to fight with the fish he had hooked. The young boys excitement put a smile on his face and he imagined him doing the same one day with his own children.

His mood improved he returned to the Phoenix.

Pausing in the lounge to look through the docking bay's windows he looked over the angular lines of his ship. Technically his second he still considered the Phoenix his first and he never tired of looking her over. As he did his commbadge chirped and he tapped it out of pure reflex. "Montoya here."

=^= Captain, Lieutenant Commander McMahon is aboard and waiting for you in your ready room. =^=

"Excellent. Tell him I will be there shortly. Montoya out."

After the short walk across the docking gantry way he entered the nearest lift and headed to the bridge.


USS Phoenix - Ready room

So, his new CO was on his way. Though his lip was still tender, at least the medic in the station fixed him up. He left the Marines and joined Starfleet. There were a couple of reasons for it, but it was not not the uniform. The red felt better than the yellow he had worn in security. And it was yellow, mustard yellow, not gold. Gold shined, yellow not. Anyway, he still preferred fatiques, but the red was better. On top of it his new CO was half Deltan. He had never dealt with Deltan's before, so this was going to be interesting. Deltans were known for being insanely sensual, no pun intended and Aiden had to smile. He was as romantic as a clay ox. Nothing there in that department.

Being promoted to XO was a big jump for him but he was serious about making it work. Where he was a zero in romantic relationships, he was confident in his knowledge of offiers and NCs serving on a ship. That he understood. He was standing at the viewport where he could admire than angular lines if this Promethues class ship. Not huge, but punchy. He had to wonder about the mission of this ship and why he was recruited for this ship. He was still lost in his thoughts when he became aware of the Captain before the door opened. Yes there was some psionic ability inherited from a Betazoid in his ancestry and his mom was a human with some telepathic and empathic abilites. He was certain his "abilities" that came and went, came from his training as a Marine. He was just alert. But it did give him time to turn from his view and stand at the ready to meet his CO.

As the door opened Rico saw his XO standing near the window. He assessed the appearance of the man and he found it matched the file he had read on the man while choosing his new XO. His outward demeanor seemed to say that he was competent but not quite comfortable. Thinking to himself, ~Well let's see how he does...~ Without pausing he entered and extended his hand. "Welcome aboard Commander."

"Thank you, Captain," Aiden responded with a smile but then hesitated for a moment before he grabbed the extended hand. "Okay, not weird," he expressed his thoughts out loud. He then realized that he actually spoke and grinned. "Apologies Captain, never met a Deltan and one hears stories about touching them, or it is only true for the opposite sex?" Aiden said. He already put his foot in his mouth, so why not put both in.

Rico laughed aloud as they shook hands. "You're safe. The effects of Deltan pheromones depends on the species sensitivities, but as a general rule it tends to be the opposite sex." Rico released his hand and moved around to his side of the desk, motioning for the man opposite him to take a seat. "I take regular injections to control my pheromones due to an incident on my first assignment. As long as I get my shot my level remain below that of a typical half breed. Now if get too far behind in getting my dosage...that a whole other story."

Tapping the panel on the edge of his desk a beverage shimmered into existence and he picked up the steaming cup. "Would you like anything?"

Aiden laughed as he sat down. "I can imagine... no actually I can't," he corrected himself. "I have the opposite effect," he chuckled. "Strong coffee with milk please" he said. He accepted the mug and watched Montoya moved to his own seat to sit down. "I was a little nervous meeting you, I haven't met a Captain who chose me as XO before" he said, referring to his less than exemplanary past between the lines. "Another first," he added drily, sipping the hot liquid.

He was about to go into why he had been chosen , but the final comment made him curious. "What are some of those other 'firsts'?"

"Being in the station Brig because you stumbled over someone's foot, which caused you to fall face first into a bowl of gagh belonging to a rather large Klingon gentleman, and said face then ended up in the path of a fast moving Klingon fist, which threw said face attached to the body backwards, and it went downhill from there. That is because more food was involved. I cannot say exactly what kind of food as it ended up on my back and so did I. There was a brawl happening and a Vulcan bystander was somehow punched too. Said face", Aiden explained, pointing to his own face, "apparently looks like it causes trouble and I was taken to the Brig. My lip was pretty cut up and so I wasn't motivated to talk much. After a while, which gave my lip sufficient time to swell up properly, I was escorted to Medbay. Then the second first was that the same Vulcan that got punched in the brawl I apparently caused, was the one who treated my lip. While I was being treated, security released me when footage showed that I was only guilty of falling in gagh. Then meeting you, a Deltan, ah, also first time on a Prometheus class ship and then the last first I mentioned, meeting a Captain that chose me as XO" he ended his recount.

Rico had lifted his coffee to take a drink but paused as the story rambled on. It was a good thing he had stopped because he would have either choked or sprayed the coffee at the image of his new XO ricocheting about like a pinball in an old-fashioned arcade game. He managed to keep his response to a chuckle and after taking a drink he set the cup aside and leaned forward, thinking the sharing an embarrassing moment of his own might eliminate some of his nervousness.

"Well if it helps, you are not the only one to have that type of first. I was on the Scylax, only my second assignment when an accident caused my pheromones to jump to transwarp. I'm only half Deltan and I was kicking out levels near 10 time that of a full blooded Deltan. Picture this young Ltjg running through corridors, crawling through jefferies tubes and using site to site transports all while being chased by horny women, to include the XO. I was in a bio-containment suit for almost a month until the doc came up with a treatment.

"Now as to why I selected you as my XO... Well, some of the other candidates I was looking had more experience, fewer issues, previous experience as an exec, previous experience on a prometheus class, all had glowing letters of recommendations. Thing is I didn't want someone else's XO that would constantly be comparing how her former CO did things. Nor did I want some perfect officer that had a service record made out of gold-pressed latinum.

"I had an organizational Director tell me once, 'If you're not screwing up, you're not learning'. It also seems that a few of your former CO's felt the same way, because they both said that your potential was greater than any errors in your past. Your record addresses the mistakes you've made and the consequences you faced.

"Have you made mistakes...yes, but so has everyone else. Have you learned from those mistakes...you wouldn't be in that uniform if you hadn't. As far as I'm concerned the past is the past, though there is one incident I want to hear more about, but I will leave the when that takes place up to you.

"But enough of that. There is one issue concerning the crew, other than having several key positions to fill, that we need to cover."

Aiden appreciated the Captain's frankness and also that he didn't dig deeper into the shadier parts of his record. "I am listening?"

"My wife is a Lieutenant in Operations."

That was not what he had expected, but it told him something about this captain, he is not a strict by the book, rule-bound CO. "That is not something one comes accross every day, but should more," he responded, expressing his own opinion.

Rico nodded. "It's s a long story but as you might suspect from a red head, she stubbornly refused to resign and take a civilian position. So in order to make this work any and all actions in regards to her service falls to you and her department head, once we get one. Should you feel the need to go higher up the chain on an issue, feel free. Though I would appreciate being kept in the loop."

"I understand," Aiden said. "Is there anything else I should know about the crew?" he asked.

"Other than being short a Department head in every section we have a good crew. No problem children, but our counselor can be a pistol...from time to time."

"A pistol, nice," Aiden chuckled. "As long as it shoots straight and true, it should be fine," he commented. After a short pause he continued. "Yes, it still looks a but thin. There has been some applications coming through. Hopefully, they are the people you are looking for."

"True. Things are beginning to look better as arrivals pick. Hopefully this trend continues.

"If there is nothing else, let me go and check in with the departments and get to know who's who here," Aiden said standing up.

Rico nodded approvingly. "Excellent. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the ship. During MVAM you'll be commanding the lower drive section. Oh... I almost forgot. What's your favorite food?"

Aiden stopped at the door and grinned. "Indian, Malaysian, French, Mexican, Vietnamese... basically most Earth based cuisine and Betazoid dishes are also good. Not gagh... " he laughed. "Captain, you tell me yours and I will cook it for you, or try to.."


OFF:

Captain Ricardo Montoya
CO
USS Phoenix

Lt Cmdr Aiden MacMahon
XO
USS Phoenix

 

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